Dec 28 2008
The Generic Villain on Women in the Industry
Recorded live from a presentation by the Generic Villain at this year’s EvilCon.
All right, ladies, listen up.
I just got a note from PR saying that women in evil are still having issues with their intimidation quotient, particularly among secret agents, the educated, and snarky accidental rulers of major geographic locations.
Something’s got to change here.
First off, the dress code. I understand why so many of you seem to think leaving nothing to the imagination is a valid strategy. Many of you are from the Succubus school of villainy, and firmly entrenched in the idea that the way to defeat every hero is to get him out of his… armor. Others seem to be clinging to that outdated principle that the less you wear, the harder you are to hit.
To the first group, I would like to point out that the guys in the field have been doing it with considerably more success, for two reasons. One, they don’t depend on seduction as a tactic; it’s more a secondary thing. Two, they often appeal to things other than the immediate “SKIN!”, with the added bonus that they can do that particular job and still wear pants, and that people looking for the “SKIN!” tactic are less likely to figure out that they’re bad news. But even leaving that aside, the strategy only has a 5% success chance, and is even less likely to succeed among protagonists with Designated Love Interests. And since protagonists with Designated Love Interests are becoming more common by the day… let’s just say it isn’t going to work too well.
To the second: The Inverse Female Armor principle is a myth. While we do not have an actual time period for it, the current perception was that it was first begun by the perverted bard known as Amato the Red as a way of making his job more… satisfying. If his ghost is found, you will be the first to know.
In sum: For the love of all that’s unholy, GET DRESSED!
Next item!
This one goes out to the flirty fighters. There are limits to what we do. Teasing your protagonists is all very well, but do you really have to turn it into an extended sexual metaphor? Particularly when it’s always going through the same few lines about fire users, magic swords, and prowess? I can see a little leeway for teasing someone about how compensatory his four-loaf cleaver is, and I love witty flirty banter as much as the next dark megalomaniac, but if you’re going to use this tactic, at least make sure you’re good at it first. Research those who have come before you. Focus on the ones who were clearly respected, and emulate them. And whatever you do, if a line crops up more than four or five times in one research session, DO NOT USE IT. It’s long past the day it should have died. Instead, record it and send it along so it’s eradicated from the banter files.
This goes double for the BDSM crowd. Look, I know not everyone gets their kicks the same way. I know some of you have even managed to turn your skill with whips and chains and how you interact with pain into a source of power in combat. But then you take your proclivities there as well, and start engaging in lines that… well, I suppose if the object of the game is to scare the really innocent ones off the battlefield or confuse them, you might be on to something, but the rest of your foes are just rolling their eyes and deciding they’ll kill you first so they don’t have to listen to you. Again, make it witty or don’t do it.
Unfortunately, the individual on the ground with the recorder was discovered by the guards at this point and had to change locations, interrupting the relay. Further portions of this presentation will be relayed Sunday if all goes well. Until then, GV speaks here.
Wow! So hilarious, and yet so true. This sort of thing even goes across almost all the genres…good writing as usual Ravyn, especially with your tongue-in-cheek style, very much looking to the followup.
*scribbles down notes for female lieutenants and what to avoid*
Vooddoo: Welcome. Glad you like it.
Lunar: I’m flattered.
Brent: Sounds about right. As a writer and as a gamer, I’m entirely sick of a lot of the characterization used for female antagonists; they’re all so boring! One can hope that GV’s audience is listening and not thumbing through Bronze Bikini Monthly–otherwise there are going to be some rather amusing explosions in there, I think.
The characterization issues are likely to go on for a while; this thing was supposed to be a one night post, but then it started growing… and growing….
Brent: Male roving adventurers were rare enough in most cultures as well; for these purposes we should probably note that “adventurer” is nearly synonymous with “criminal” and that the generic fantasy model - that is, free, armed, war-trained commoners wandering the countryside looking for trouble - doesn’t fit very well with the hierarchical model of law that most countries tended to develop for their own protection. This is pretty normal, however, because the generic fantasy model doesn’t actually correspond to any recognizable period in history and shouldn’t really be made to do so.
I’ve heard but never verified that “Samurai” was a both-genders profession in the pre-Tokugawa collection of warring states that was the same shape as modern Japan. However, I’m inclined to guess that this is wishful thinking, since the logistics of human reproduction do tend to leave men more free time for energetic activities.
When I write fantasy, I generally consider the setting to be a wishful one in the first place. As many have noted, there aren’t any crystal dragon gods or giant cave toads in Eastern or Western history either, and this doesn’t stop us from writing stories with these elements strongly represented. Moreover economic realities are usually completely glossed over - Lord of the Rings had ONE FARMER - and little problems like disease are completely forgotten, usually through the expedient of magic or convenient mushy green pastes.
I personally believe that the wishful aspect of fantasy is one of its best qualities, since anybody who doesn’t feel a bit dreamy at the thought of a big muscly barbarian saving them from giant cave toads has a pretty narrow definition of what is good, and changing the gender of said barbarian alters that statement not at all. I mean, who would you rather fell in love with you - some big lady with a raw laugh who constantly seeks the good things in life and wants you all to herself? Or some waify princess who has to marry somebody anyway so she’s marrying you because you’re taller than the other guy?
Look, writing women in fantasy is one of your real chances to have real fantasy women - you can finally ditch all of the usual social baggage and have the larger-than-life characters that other genres decry as “unrealistic”, and if anyone says boo you can tell ‘em its fantasy so they can go back to their Grisham and stop whining.
You can have the giant-of-a-woman, the sleazy swashbuckler, the knight with an iron will, the laconic blademaster and the aleing, whoring pirate, and they can all be women and played honestly. You can have a female Mad Bomber and not undermine her madcap explosive antics with pointless sexual politics. You can write about a society with an intricate and thoughtful take on gender equality and not have to be ironic. It’s fantasy, you can do whatever you want.
And by doing so, you’re helping people. You know why? Because when you write a story about a nice lady gunslinger who saves some poor guy from monsters, and it’s a good story and people like it, it says something to them.
We all like fantasy because it lets us feel that if we were given a gun and dumped in Monster Land, we could do OK for ourselves and maybe rescue some nice cute people and generally have a good life just like those people in the story. And if we have women in there as real characters, instead of as prizes and idle entertainment, then anybody who reads the story can feel comfortable with the idea that, yeah, women would do just as OK because the difference between men and women doesn’t count for much in a scenario involving sixguns and killer monsters.
And for those people who might be concerned about the differences between men and women, a good story in a setting where those differences amount to nothing can give us all an example where we can forget about them a little bit, and realize that there’s nothing to keep the nice lady gunslinger from being the hero of the story, and maybe some of that stuff we heard about women being different wouldn’t really matter in this situation.
So then we might say, hang on a second, that means that this stuff about men and women being different looks like more a matter of circumstance than we really thought about before. And this way lies wondering about why our current circumstances are supposed to be so great when it seems like they play up the small meaningless differences between people, and ignore the stuff we like to read about like cooperation and friendship and romance and improving our lives.
And maybe if you give enough people a picture of a better world, one where people respect your ability and expect the same in return, one where everyone can expect to be appreciated and loved as an equal and where people work together to accomplish great things… well, maybe they’ll look around and think about how the world they live in isn’t that great and how maybe it could use some help.
That’s what most fantasy is *for*. It’s a better world, with better things to do and better ways for people to interact with each other. It’s a wish list that you write for other people, asking them to want these better things. If enough people really want the better things, they can sometimes happen. Not so much with the gunslinging and monster fighting maybe, but when it comes to treating everyone with similar respect for their ability and agency and intellect, that’s something we can have right this second.
And the best way to have it, as soon as possible, is to give everybody a reason to want it. And a good way to give them a reason to want it is to write a story that shows how good it would be.
So don’t talk about historical analogues - you don’t need them. Instead, just write about everyone - the boys and the girls - the way you really want them to be, the way they could be if they all just had the chance to be the hero and save their friends from monsters and fall in love with someone else who is as amazing as they are. Then let ‘em all read it - if people love it, then they’ll believe it, and they’ll have a reason to be better people.
That’s fantasy. That’s all you need. Now, go and write!
Ravyn: Apologies for the long comment! I often get long-winded talking about this stuff.
….no problem on the long comment; I’d wanted to say something like that, but couldn’t figure out where to start. Next time you’re at that length, though, could you submit it as a guest post instead? It’d get your point across just as well, be a lot more readable, and more people would see it.
(*makes note to self to find excuse to link this comment in a few posts*)
ravyn: I’ll do that. It would certainly be more organized and I can use the practice
Brent: Minor note - chances are you already agree with much of what I’ve said, at least in principle. In review I see you were explaining rather than advocating, so I hope you won’t feel I’m targeting you.